Don't Die Before You're Dead

When I feel like giving up, this is my mantra. Don't die before you're dead. It reminds me to never give up. To keep trying until I cannot try anymore. After I finished my doctoral work, I thought that I would have more leisure time, like to read, things that I want to read. Well, it has not happened, so in order to not give up, I realize that I need a simple plan to "force" myself to read because I deserve it.

How to Read More OR don't die before you're dead

Stop playing Trivia Crack, Candy Crush, Farm Heroes Saga, Bejeweled. . .phones (and iPads)are for READING - this is now my wallpaper on my phone

• Always have two or three books waiting in the wings (or in my case, in my Oyster books reading list)

• Carry a book with me at all times
• Go to bed an hour before and read instead of watch TV
• Have a magazine, professional article, other kind of reading in "5 minute places"- the bathroom, the kitchen, my car, the iPad
• Stop reading what I don't want to read
• Log what I read (aka get back on Goodreads) and share what I like

Read and share.

Books to Read Challenge 2010

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea is hosting this challenge to "read the best books first." Like my son says, I don't want to die in 2010. Most people will probably read classics that ehy never got to, or books that have been on their TBR list for way too long.

I read a lot of books for my job, for my students and for my sanity, but many of them are blogged about, then forgotten as one story blends into another. But I would like to spend some time in 2010 revisiting the books that continue to follow me. The ones that haunt me are the ones I'd like to read first, and last, so these are the books with lines or characters that continue to speak to me, or encourage me, make me laugh, or make me cry, even after all these years.

1. Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
2. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
3. King Lear by Shakespeare
4. Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
5. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
6. Beloved by Toni Morrison
7. Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
8. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
9. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
10. Pouliuli by Albert Wendt

If you are interested in this challenge, go to Diane's blog (link above or on the picture).

What would you read first?